The mobile satellite service is in many ways one of the most suited to being provided by a network or constellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit. This type of service requires by far the greatest link margin in order to maintain service continuity because of obstacles that can block a clear line of sight between the satellite and the user’s transceiver. Also the processing time and need for storage and buffering of the MSS digital signals associated with maintaining a mobile satellite signal because of possible interruptions, such as tunnels, forests and trees, billboards, and buildings and skyscrapers, mean that delay associated with a GEO satellite compounds the problem of resiliency of service. A LEO system, because of its lower latency and less path loss due to being some 30 to 40 times closer to the ground, has an advantage over a MEO and especially a GEO system.
For a variety of reasons, the first small satellite constellations for voice, data, and machine-to-machine (M2M) services that included Iridium, Globalstar, ICO, and ORBCOMM all had to be reorganized out of bankruptcy. Yet now all of these systems are going enterprises and other new systems are being deployed. Some of these are for new L-band-based data relay and M2M services. These systems are providing such new applications as automatic identification services (AIS) and Internet of Things (IoT) data relay, and others are being deployed to support 5G-based data relay and other advanced applications related to driverless cars.
This chapter describes the design of small satellite networks to support mobile services and augmentation of broadband cellular networks as well as global voice and data services. It explains the challenges that exist to deploy and operate these types of satellite systems as well as the regulatory, standards, and spectrum allocation issues associated with the development, deployment, and future growth of these networks in the future.
Mobile Satellite Communications and Small Satellites
Handbook of Small Satellites ; Chapter : 38 ; 721-736
2020-09-13
16 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
Application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) , Automatic identification service , Broadcast satellite services (BSS) , exactEarth , 5G cellular service , Fixed-satellite services (FSS) , Flat panel antenna , Globalstar , ICO , Inmarsat , Internet of Things (IoT) , Iridium , Latency , Ligado , Link margin , Machine-to-machine (M2M) services , Mobile satellite services (MSS) , ORBCOMM , Satellite constellations , Satellite phones , Spire , Thuraya , User transceivers Physics , Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics) , Aerospace Technology and Astronautics , Communications Engineering, Networks , Monitoring/Environmental Analysis , Physics and Astronomy
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